Close doesn’t count for anything and it certainly didn’t count for the Jackson County Panthers Friday night.
Jackson County (5-5, 2-3) lost to Morgan County 31-12 despite ending several drives inside the Bulldogs 25-yard line. The Panthers only managed to score one touchdown on offense.
“We just missed a couple of key plays on the offensive side of the ball,” said head coach Brandon Worley. “I can’t say enough about these young men, they fought hard.”
The night nearly began in disaster when Grey Akins threw an interception on Jackson County’s first play from scrimmage and the Bulldogs took over at the 13-yard line. However, the defense shut down Morgan’s offense to force a field goal.
On the ensuing kickoff, Tyler Wester took the ball 92-yards down the middle of the field to get Jackson County on the board with a 6-3 lead early in the first quarter.
“We say it all the time, football is a game of momentum,” Worley said. “It was exciting to see that, the kids started believing a little bit.”
But that would be the Panthers only lead of the game. Morgan County answered a few possessions later after a bad punt gave them the ball at the Panther’s 12-yard line. Penalties nearly gave Jackson County another big stop but a 21-yard pass on third-and-22 and a four-yard pass a down later gave the Bulldogs a 10-6 lead. They made it 17-6 with a 69-yard screen pass on their very next offensive play.
Jackson County did cut the lead late in the second quarter with a 50-yard drive concluding with a three-yard run by Tyler Payne. The Panthers failed to convert their two-point attempt so the score remained 17-12.
The second half began for Jackson County the same way the first half did, with an interception. This time, the defense couldn’t keep Morgan County out of the end zone and the Bulldogs lead increased to 24-12.
Just when it looked like Morgan County was ready to take over, Jackson County gets an interception and takes over at their 17-yard line. They drove the ball all the way to Morgan County’s nine before failing to convert on fourth down.
Morgan County later scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away. But the Panthers did have one last drive in them going from their 26 to Morgan’s 13. But once again, they failed to convert on fourth down. That ended the game with a 31-12 final score.
“I can’t say enough about how hard our kids played, they played their hearts out,” Worley said. “Defense played amazing all around, special teams made big plays.”

E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:

Phone*

What is zero plus six?

Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.